Element Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 5,911 Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Element Capital Management LLC has acquired a new position in Linde PLC by purchasing 5,911 shares valued at approximately $2,752,000 during the first quarter.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $6.00, with a yield of 1.3%.
• The stock is currently rated as a "Buy"** with a consensus target price of $519.63, reflecting positive sentiment among analysts following several upgrades.

Element Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,911 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $2,752,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock traded up $2.45 on Friday, reaching $480.08. 1,951,307 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,490,247. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $468.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $460.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.11 billion, a PE ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.92.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.85 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 42.67%.

Linde Company Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.